Isis Area News Today

Conversations have not occurred. but i would expect they will begin in short order. >> reporter: and when those conversations start, is it merely going to be russia or the u.s. saying we plan to act in this area, so your military interests will be safe. or will there be any sort of coordination in efforts from the u.s. military? >> well, i think its hard to prejudge at this point exactly what the conversations look like, other than that they will abide for the description i have used here for a ...

About the geographic low kags of where the air strikes happened and correspond with what we understand are isis territories. >> so basically, right now, isis has a large swath of syria as their territory. they have taken it over and theyre holding it. its a large location that goes -- sort of sweeps across the country from the north all along the east over towards iraq. what were seeing these air strikes, these air strikes by the russians today are over on the western side of the country. thats ...

Specifically brought up today on capitol hill. >> it was perfectly clear what russias intentions are. to prop up bashar al assad, the father of isis. to make sure they have a secure base in the region. >> nbcs courtney coobey is here with more. brief us on what we know so far and also about the geographic locations of where these air strikes happened. >> reporter: so far the only air strikes that the u.s. is confirming that they know about was in an area called talbisa outside of homs. the u.s. ...

This is an ongoing operation, whether theyre going to continue to strike in that same area, whether theyre going to broaden out the spectrum of the strikes, what theyre targeting. nothing like that. >> courtney, you and jim miklaszewski cover this man and a number of others in that building every day for a living. for some folks this is the first time to dial in to the still relatively secretary of defense. i think its fair i found earlier that he didnt have the urgency in his demeanor and deliv...

Opposition. no isis over there, very little anyway. what it is also near, of course, the russian interests and n that area. russia built up a large military build-near latakia. they have aircraft, tanks, hundreds of personnel there. we dont know how many they have total. but they also are there -- they want to protect tartus. their warm-water port. the russians are saying theyre targeting isis but given the fact theres no isis in the area, that just doesnt seem to be the case. so defense officia...

Takes the russians at the word because at the beginning of the briefing he said the actions are a logical contradiction between what the russian position is and what theyre actually doing in syria so then coming back to say i take them at their word. they said they were connecting air strikes and theyre conducting them. but they said its against isis and it is not. secretary carter himself would not specifically say what opposition forces he believes the u.s. military believe it is russians are ...

Homs, on the other hand, is on the west side of the country near where the russians have their warm water port. its over where they have a large military build-up. and it is over closer to damascus where, of course, bashar al assad is maintaining his seat of power. so to give you a sense of why the u.s. military officials and defense officials im speaking to dont believe that this was actually a strike against isis, theres really no isis in that area. the u.s. coalition is not conducting strikes...

This is primarily an area where theres syrian opposition forces as opposed to the isis, the terrorists that the u.s. coalition are strike against. >> courtney, stand by for me as we bring in the conversation with michael kaye, a former british advisor with the min stir of defense in the u.k. you are very familiar with this region but also specifically as courtney just brought up, the warm water port area of tartus and why russia is so invested with that area of syria. >> absolutely. theres a lot...